1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to methods of handling dairy animals and more particularly to methods of automatically milking an animal in a milking box and subsequently expelling the animal.
2. Description of the Related Art
Methods of expelling a dairy animal from a milking box are known, in which an electro-shock device is used to encourage the animal to leave the box should the animal not desire to do so. Such devices are particularly important in robotic milking devices where a farmer may not be present and the animal may otherwise block the milking box for other users. Other devices and methods have been suggested, using movable food troughs to tempt the animal to leave and movable members to exert pressure on the rear of an animal. Although such methods are capable of expelling an animal efficiently from the milking box, for this purpose an extra device is needed, which makes performing the method unnecessarily expensive
Thus, there is a particular need for an alternative method by means of which an animal is efficiently expelled from the milking box in a cheap and humane manner.